A week of travel without a car

[whole diary]

[grahame]

http://grahamellis.uk/blog1303.html

I'll spare you the seven day log that's there at that URL ... in conclusion

So there you have it - 7 days of not driving. And not because of some sort of climate or morality check, though I do feel good about those. Here are the good points:

*+ Somone else is doing the driving; I am not getting tired and neither am I "wasting time" - I can be doing other things

*+ On walking and cycling, it's just as fast in Melksham as driving and less hassle than getting a lift

*+ There's no issue on parking and no fuel costs (although with an electic car charged off solar panels, that's a moot point)

*+ There is excellent interaction opportunity with people on the way, and an excellent opportunity to observe and see how public transport is working

*+ It's healthier / excercise cycling, walking and also accessing public transport

But some things not quite so great

*- There are time when the public transport times are not ideal; working / writing at a laptop so much of the time, I am usually able to compensate for that - for example Lisa and I stopped out for lunch on Wednesday, and I gave McDOnalds in Bath some business on Thursday

*- Public transport isn't always perfect for the total journey. For our Devizes appointment it took us cloer than the car park, but I've had a couple of walks to do.

*- There will "always" be journeys which are too long to walk or cycle and cannot be done easily by public transport, or where there is too much to carry on the bus. For people with very occasional travel requirements not met by walking, cycling and public transport, taxi / private hire car / Uber may be the sensible option

[Red Squirrel]

There's an interesting resource which you can use to predict how easy it might be for someone to get around without a car, based on where they live:

https://www.walkscore.com/

SN12 7NY, a postcode in Melksham, scores '65 - Somewhat Walkable. Some errands can be accomplished on foot'.

BA2 4PP, in Bath, does a lot better at '92 - Walker’s Paradise. Daily errands do not require a car.'

This is a North America-centric website, but if nothing else it's a bit of fun. I suppose it could be useful if you were considering moving! There's also an interesting Travel Time Map (scroll down) which may give an indication of what's in range by various modes of transport.

[froome]

There's an interesting resource which you can use to predict how easy it might be for someone to get around without a car, based on where they live:

https://www.walkscore.com/

SN12 7NY, a postcode in Melksham, scores '65 - Somewhat Walkable. Some errands can be accomplished on foot'.

BA2 4PP, in Bath, does a lot better at '92 - Walker’s Paradise. Daily errands do not require a car.'

This is a North America-centric website, but if nothing else it's a bit of fun. I suppose it could be useful if you were considering moving! There's also an interesting Travel Time Map (scroll down) which may give an indication of what's in range by various modes of transport.

I just tried this with our postcode in Bath and got a score of 59, which I think is much too low, considering we have a bus with a 10 minute frequency along our road which almost stops outside our house, have close access to the Two Tunnels path, and can easily walk to the nearest shopping street. We have never felt the need to have a car, and don't feel we miss out on much by way of travel that the few car driving neighbours there are make.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I've just tried this with the postcodes for our previous house in Nailsea and our current house (we moved last year, downsizing towards retirement).

Our previous house scored 35 and our new address (they're 1.2 miles apart) scores 70.

That seems to support our decision, then. 

[Mark A]

The 'Placestandard' tool can be helpful for framing thought about a location, though I'm not having any success with the current android app as it's crashy. There's a web version though.

Mark

https://www.ourplace.scot/About-Place-Standard

[eightonedee]

Just tried mine, a 20 minute walk from Goring Station, and obtained a score of 49 - "most errands require the use of a car".

However, the accompanying 20 minute walk map showed Goring Station, the Tesco Express, two other convenience stores, and all the other retail stores in Goring within the 20 minute walk zone. It is also showed a non-existent Londis store in this zone as well!

So, with direct rail access to (in ascending order) Didcot, Reading and London within 20 minutes, why should I need a car for errands? I would be lost without mine for various recreational activities that I enjoy, and I would have to change from undertaking the weekly household "big shop" in Wallingford, but this looks better than the 49 score to me, unless I had mobility issues.

[FarWestJohn]

I live near Perranwell station with hourly train service to Falmouth and Truro. Also with a half hourly bus at the bottom of the road to Falmouth, Truro and Newquay and a two hourly bus to Helston and Coverack.

It said I could not do anything without a car!! So not impressed.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Our previous house scored 35 and our new address (they're 1.2 miles apart) scores 70.

The one thing I had overlooked, however, was that our new house is significantly further away from Nailsea & Backwell station than our previous one.  Previously, we were a ten minute brisk walk away: now, we are actually about a 20 minute walk away.  That's why I missed my planned first train to Melksham from our new address.